Ib: From the beginning
by LightWorldMidna
Summary: One is too young to understand and is losing her mind, one had been through enough and can't handle it, and the other may be getting her dream with the small price of destroying a few others. The story of Ib, from before the beginning and after the end, from the POV of all three characters.


_Tick, tick, tick, tick..._

It's too silent. No noise...

_Tick, tick, tick, tick..._

Nothing but cars on the road, my breathing, and my stomach...

And THAT.

_Tick, tick, tick, tick..._

I stared at the ceiling. After five minutes of watching lights dart across my ceiling before I growled and rolled over to face the wall.

_Surely I'm tired? I haven't slept for something like two days!_

I rolled over again. I was so uncomfortable...

_Tick, tick, tick, tick..._

I pressed my hand against my stomach as it growled again. _When was the last time I ate...?_ For the first time in ages, I took note of the fact that my ribs were protruding from my front.

I rolled over yet again and stared out the window. I was hyper-aware of my surroundings for the first time in... _how long?_ I glanced at my clock. When I failed to find the red LCD display in the blackness I remembered I'd unplugged it when I took to my bed, however long ago it was.

Knowing I'd probably been in bed for a few days, and certain that, with as uncomfortable as I was, I wouldn't be sleeping again soon, I crawled out of bed. Using the fleeting light of a car passing outside, I took a glance at my watch. Twenty past three in the morning... But what day is it? I fumbled about in the darkness to find my phone, which had fallen onto to floor and been left there for however long I'd been in my bed for. I managed to knock over the glass of water I kept by my bed, but thankfully only a few drops were in it. I pulled the charger lead out from behind my desk and plugged it in, sitting against the wall.

I flicked the phone open and squinted at the screen as it booted up. I was able to look at it properly when it began to display how many messages and calls I'd missed. 17 missed calls and 54 messages. I checked the date before I looked through them all - 3:27 AM, Friday 17th... I stared in surprise. I was holed up in here for nine days? Suddenly feeling queasy, I dropped my phone and stumbled out of my room and down the hall, only taking my glass with me. I burst into the bathroom, quickly peeled off my clothes and practically threw myself into the shower. I didn't even dare to look in the mirror on the way past, I only took a moment to re-fill my glass from the tap and drink it all in one go. After washing my hair for the third time, I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around myself. I took a step towards the sink, took a deep breath and wiped away the mist to see my reflection.

I was both surprised, and at the same time not, but my reflection. I expected myself to look more like a zombie, but I looked... pretty normal. I'd at least expected to have dark circles under my eyes, but I didn't even have that. I looked well rested, clean, and only a little bit depressed.

My stomach growled again and I glanced down. Seeing how obvious my ribs were made me squirm a little. I took a moment of thought and worked out that I hadn't eaten anything substantial since Monday, and I hadn't drank much either. Suddenly absolutely starving, I made my way back to my room and pulled some clothes from my draws and threw them on. It didn't surprise me when I needed to find a belt. What did surprise me was just how baggy my jeans seemed – they used to be one of my tighter pairs, but... As I sat down on the bed to pull my socks on, I examined my knees. I had become so thin...

Before I made my way to the kitchen, I took a moment to open my bedroom window. I'd been curled up in my bed for nine days, I was certain the room smelled horrible. I didn't smell it yet, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I picked up my phone and my towel and wandered down the hall towards the kitchen, chucking the towel back through the bathroom door as I passed. I dropped my phone onto the kitchen table and meandered about the cupboards, grabbing anything and everything that seemed appealing. I considered making myself a quick stir-fry, but I quickly re-decided after one glance and all of the flies and blue fur that had materialised around the vegetables. My next idea was cereal, but one whiff of the milk soon made me pass up that idea, too. I realised my best bet was food from the freezer, so I pulled it open and had a look. My stomach growled in approval as I pulled a frozen pizza from one of the draws, and after a little bit of consideration, I took a second as well.

After tossing the pizzas in the oven, I plugged the coffee machine in and turned it on. I hadn't had any coffee in over a week, so my first coffee might as well be a good one. Of course, it would have to be a black one. Either that or I could open a tin of that fake cream stuff. I started digging through the cupboards again while the coffee machine gurgled away, but I got bored of looking and decided to go without. I sat back against the counter and looked about the kitchen. _What a mess... _There was a pile of unwashed dishes in the sink, stale and mouldy produce dotted about the place and bags of rubbish yet to be taken out. While I was normally messy, I wasn't _this _messy. I sighed and made myself a coffee in one of the last clean mugs.

I took my coffee and sat at the kitchen table with my phone while I waited for the pizzas to cook. I looked through the list of missed calls first. There were a few odd ones from acquaintances, and a few repeated ones from my friends and classmates throughout the week. Probably asking why I wasn't in class. 4 voicemails. I didn't bother listening to them just yet. _Usually my friends leave a voicemail, then text me and tell me exactly what they said in the voicemail. _I looked through the texts, and they fell into five categories. There a few, rather late messages, which were 'Bummer about you not getting in!', and after that, a fair few 'Just heard about you and Dee – sucks to be you, man. What happened?', a handful of 'Sorry about what happened to your dog!' and then a good load of 'Saw the accident on the news, you have my condolences'. Despite it all, I chuckled at the last category of messages. All of them were from my best friend Sophie, in varying and gradually desperate forms of 'Where are you today?'. I'd deleted all of the other messages without a second thought, but I looked through the ones from Sophie. Some were really quite amusing – she'd sent at least one message a day.

_"I heard about everything – I'm really sorry! You need a hug, Gar-bear. Want to get a coffee after class?"_

_"I'm not surprised you didn't turn up to class today. You, of all of us, deserve a day off. Hope you're okay, I'll see you tomorrow!"_

_"Another day off? I hope you're okay. I tried calling you, but... Just give me a ring, 'kay?"_

_"Teach is getting on my last nerve! He's being really insensitive. Perhaps it's better you're not here. I'll email you all the work you need to catch up on."_

_"Oh my god, Garry! Everyone is asking where you are! I don't want to tell them anything unless you okay it! Please, just give me a call."_

_"Seriously, Garry, I know everything's NOT okay, but I'm so worried you've shot yourself or something. You haven't have you? Oh god. Please! Please call me. Soon!"_

_"I've been up all night Garry! All night! I know you were probably sleeping, but I went by your apartment earlier and I knocked and there was no answer and it was totally dark! Are you awake now? Please call me!"_

I chuckled to myself and sipped at my coffee while I went through and listened to the voicemails. All were from Sophie, saying much the same as the text messages. I really wanted to call her, but it was only half four in the morning. I knew she'd be happy to hear from me and everything, but I really didn't want to wake her up. _She'd _want me to wake her up, but I wanted to start pretending everything was normal again.

The timer dinged. I plopped my phone back on the table and got up to take the pizzas from the oven. I cut them into manageable slices (I may be hungry, but I am not a barbarian) and left them to cool for a moment while I grabbed my laptop. I plugged it in and sat it on the table, tapping my fingers on the keys as I waited for it to boot up. I knew that Sophie would be getting up at six to go for her morning jog, then have her morning shower. The best time to call would be while she was sitting having her breakfast, which considering her fastidious morning schedule, would be around seven. It was about quarter to five now, so my choices were sitting at the TV for a few hours, or making a start on the assignments I'd missed that Sophie had sent me. And I knew from experience that being behind in an art class was difficult to make up for...

I logged in and clicked my way into my emails. Surprise, surprise, there were a fair few condolence emails there, too. I knew it was mildly immature, but I deleted them all without looking at more than the subject line. I found Sophie's email easily. The subject line read "PLEASE DON'T FREAK! IT'S NOT AS MUCH AS IT LOOKS!" I sighed to myself and opened it. She was right, it did look like a lot. I'd missed about two weeks of work, and you'd be surprised how much that actually is... I grabbed a pizza slice as I began reading through it. That was when I realised this was only covering to Tuesday earlier this week... Leaving two days unaccounted for. I was beginning to wish I could just crawl back into my bed...

I recalled there was supposed to be a visit to a gallery that I'd missed at some point, which wasn't in Sophie's email. I guessed it must have been one of the unaccounted days. That was a little more promising – one day's less work. Even so, I still wondered which gallery they'd gone to. I'd have to pay out for an individual visit at the weekend or something. _What a bore that'll be._

I munched my way through the first half of pizza easily, reading emails, and checking every site worth checking that I could think of. Around about the three quarters mark I was beginning to feel much more like myself. I knew eating so much pizza was bad for me, but so was being a skeleton. But, even so, I didn't think I could manage another slice, so I put the rest in the fridge to snack on through the day.

I made myself another cup of coffee, even though I was far too awake to need it. I took it with me into the pokey little living room which I kept all my painting supplies in and set it down on the stool next to the easel. I went about searching for a canvas to begin painting on. One of the assignments I'd missed was to create an impressionism style painting, which all of my classmates agreed, was just throwing some paint on a canvas and seeing what it looked like afterwards. I thought I'd try, since it sounded easy enough. I remembered turning the radio on for some background noise, but after that, I lost myself in my painting. I was only brought back to reality when I heard a voice on the news saying it was time for the seven 'o'clock news.

I took my still half full cup of cold coffee back with me into the kitchen and drained it into the sink and perching the cup precariously onto the pile of dishes. I picked up my phone, dialled Sophie's number. Holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder, I made my way around the apartment opening curtains, hoping sunlight would make it look better. She picked up on the first ring. "Garry! Oh my gosh, Garry, you're okay! I was so worried! I thought you'd killed yourself or something! Where have you been?"

Her hectic babbling made me smile. "I'm... okay, I guess. I've been, y'know, hiding."

"That's so bad of you, making me worry like that!" She scolded. "You didn't call, not even once!"

"I'm not dead!" I laughed. "You shouldn't worry so much."

Her 'huff' was audible over the phone. "What was I supposed to think, Garry? That you'd taken an impromptu vay-kay?"

"Hm, that would've been nice."

"Okay, Gar-bear, coffee. Where do you wanna meet?"

"I've already had two-"

"Coffee! Where?" She interrupted. When I just sighed, she continued. "We are going to meet for coffee, because I really need to see you again, and you really need a hug. How 'bout the new café in town?"

"I've never been there before." I answered.

"I went there the other day. It's great. They have the greatest macaroons I've ever tasted. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will."

I chuckled. "You know I like a good macaroon, but for breakfast? Really?"

"Yes! Why not?" She laughed. "Look, morning lecture was cancelled today for the write up of yesterday's visit to the gallery. I'm not quite finished, and since we don't have to be in until half one, why not brunch?"

"Now that's more acceptable macaroon eating time."

"How's ten sound?" She suggested.

I shrugged to myself. "It's not like I have any other plans, and knowing you, you'll want to come back to mine, and before you do that, I need to tidy up a bit."

"Hey," She murmured. "You've just been through a trauma and a half, I think I can put up with a little bit of mess."

I chuckled again. "We're trying to make me feel better, not put _you _through some trauma."

"Yeah, you're right, I can't handle mess. I'll see you at ten!"

"See you then." I hung up and flipped the phone shut. I couldn't help smiling – Sophie could always cheer me up. I would have to go into town a little early and get her a gift to say thanks. While I thought about what I could get her, I went about tidying the apartment ready for her arrival.


End file.
